The 2017 Tour Down Under is less than a week away and we’re heading over this coming weekend to catch the build-up and cover the race. For those of you who are in Adelaide next week, here are a list of events CyclingTips and BikeExchange are organising. Please join us!
DAILY RIDES
Taking a look at the long-term forecast for Adelaide the weather conditions appear to be perfect for cycling! With that in mind, here’s what we have planned:
To celebrate the 2017 Santos Tour Down Under, CyclingTips will be hosting daily rides from Monday to Sunday. We’ll be taking in some of Adelaide’s most iconic routes, including the twisty Gorge Road, scenic Mt Lofty, the Strava-famous Corkscrew Road climb, and iconic Willunga Hill. Those of you who are new to riding in South Australia are in for a treat.
The rides are structured in such a way that you can kick off your day with a ride and coffee before watching the stage, checking out the village or doing some more riding!
It’s not easy to navigate the maze of unfamiliar roads all while trying to judge when the race comes by. But we’ve got it all sorted out for you.
One of the most unique things about the TDU is that on many of the stages the pros will ride home from the stage finish and we punters get to join them.
Some important things to note before we get into the details for each of the rides.
- The daily meeting point for all rides is: The Exchange Cafe, in the Victoria Square TDU Expo area (map).
- The pace of the rides is intended to accommodate all abilities so we will incorporate several stops along the way to re-group. Don’t expect a smashfest!
- We recommend bringing your own nutrition, spares etc.
- We’ve organised for some guest appearances from prominent cyclists as well as some prizes from our partners Garmin, Hilton, Pedla, Oakley & Genovese. So make sure you hang around for a coffee at Exchange Speciality Cafe after each ride!
- Lastly, we ask that you please ride with the utmost respect and courtesy for your fellow cyclists and other road users. This one’s a bit of a no-brainer but with large numbers expected at each ride we’ll need to be on our best behaviour to ensure that everyone enjoys themselves and more importantly returns safely!
Monday 16th January – Waterfall Gully Road (optional Mt Osmond climb)
Meeting at The Exchange Cafe at 6:30am for a pre-ride coffee
- Departure time: 6:45am
- Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/7325410
- Distance: 30.5km
- Vertical gain: 600m
- Return time: 8:15am at Exchange Cafe for brew #2
Tuesday 17th January – Henley Beach
Meeting at The Exchange Cafe at 6:30am for a pre-ride coffee
- Departure time: 6:45am
- Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18156402
- Distance: 35km
- Vertical gain: 150m
- Return time: 8:15am at Exchange Cafe for brew #2
Wednesday 18th January – Glenelg
Meeting at The Exchange Cafe at 6:30am for a pre-ride coffee
- Departure time: 6:45am
- Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/7325405
- Distance: 40km
- Vertical gain: 250m
- Return time: 8:15am at Exchange Cafe for brew #2
Thursday 19th January – Gorge Road (optional Corkscrew climb)
Meeting at The Exchange Cafe at 6:30am for a pre-ride coffee
- Departure time: 6:45am
- Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/7325435
- Distance: 40.5km
- Vertical gain: 500m
- Return time: 8:15am at Exchange Cafe for brew #2
Friday 20th January – Greenhill (optional Lofty climb)
Meeting at The Exchange Cafe at 6:30am for a pre-ride coffee
- Departure time: 6:45am
- Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/7325396
- Distance: 34km
- Vertical gain: 700m
- Return time: 8:15am at Exchange Cafe for brew #2
Saturday 21st January – Willunga Hill
Meeting at The Exchange Cafe at 7am for a pre-ride coffee
- Departure time: 7:30am
- Route: GPS of route to follow
- Distance: 70km (one-way) 140km (self-directed return journey)
- Vertical gain: 750m (one-way)
- Stops: For the ride out to Willunga there will be 1-2 aid stations stocked with water, soft drinks and some nutrition thanks to the CyclingTips X Holden team car. At the summit of Willunga Hill there will be a BikeExchange hospitality tent that everyone is invited to watch the stage from, with a coffee cart courtesy of Kask and much, much more! Return time: Up to you!*
After the stage is finished we will be riding back to the CBD but this part of the ride will not be supported. For those not wanting to ride the return journey there are buses that take you back to the event village.
Sunday 22nd January – City circuit laps
Meeting at The Exchange Cafe at 6:30am for a pre-ride coffee
- Departure time: 6:45am
- Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/7325454
- Distance: 5km per lap
- Vertical gain: 100m per lap
- Return time: 8:15am at Exchange Cafe for brew #2
MOVIE NIGHT – THEREABOUTS 3: DISCOVERING COLOMBIA
On the evening of Friday January 20 we’ll be hosting an official screening of Thereabouts 3: Discovering Colombia (see trailer below). It’s the first time the film’s been shown to the general public and we’ve secured the biggest screen in Adelaide (Palace Nova Cinemas just off Rundle St) so you can enjoy the Mortons’ feature-length adventure in the best possible format.
The evening will kick off at 6pm with a Q&A between CyclingTips founder Wade Wallace and professional cyclist/star of Thereabouts 3 Lachlan Morton. Tickets are $20 each and include an à BLOC Bicycle Beer on arrival. Please note no tickets are available on the night.
Click here to purchase tickets. For more info head to the Facebook event page.
Here’s a description of the film from Lachy & Gus’s kickstart page:
“Many of you will have seen the first two Thereabouts films where pro-cyclist brothers Lachlan & Gus Morton go against the grain of training camps, intervals and powermeters, and rediscover their love for the bike and the adventure it brings. In collaboration with CyclingTips, we are creating Thereabouts 3 and have travelled to Colombia to see the country through the Morton brother’s eyes, and to discover what makes this country such a special place for breeding some of the world’s best cyclists.”
VTWO/CYCLINGTIPS CARPARK CLIMB
In March 2016 CyclingTips collaborated with Melbourne events organiser VTWO to host the inaugural Carpark Climb where hundreds of cyclists raced up the ramps of an empty carpark in the city. On Saturday 21st January, after stage 5 of the TDU to Willunga, CyclingTips and VTWO will combine once more to replicate this successful concept at a carpark right in the heart of Adelaide’s CBD.
Entries have almost sold out but there’s heaps on offer for spectators including two À BLOC Bicycle Beer bars, live DJs and much, much more. If last year’s event was anything to go by this should be a really fun night and the perfect way to cap off a hard ride to Willunga and back!
Click here to read more.
See you in Radelaide!
This article was originally published on cyclingtips.com
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